Another day, another podcast release!

One of my favorite things to do throughout the work week is go live on our YouTube Channel to hang out with you guys and answer all of your YouTube related questions.

Recently, my team and I talked all about the most important skills you need to turn your channel into a business.

We made this list in hopes that it can encourage you as you’re growing your YouTube channel into a business and guide you to develop these skills, so you succeed!

Here are those skills.

  1. Problem solving. A business exists to solve a problem for people. You not only need to help people solve their problem with your product or service to have a successful business, but you’ll inevitably have problems arise when you own a business. Being able to develop problem solving skills will be key to your success.
  2. Discernment. As you grow your brand and/or business, you’ll start to have tons of opportunities come your way. They won’t all align with your mission/vision and your audience will be able to tell. Don’t say yes to every opportunity. Only say yes to the things that will keep you moving forward in the right direction.
  3. Planning and/or organization. It’s okay if this isn’t your strong suit, but if you want your business to succeed, you need to create a plan for where you want it to be in 1, 2, 5, and even 10 years down the road. This will help you determine where your time and energy needs to go – which will save you a lot of headaches wasting time on the day to day stuff.
  4. Creating systems. Creating systems is the lifeblood of your business. I created a reproducible system that we’ve taught to big brands like Disney, HBO, Warner Bros, etc. and I teach to creators like you called Video Labs. Creating this system allows our business to keep thriving and to help creators grow their channels in less time. As my team started to grow, I knew I needed to create systems to help onboard staff so they knew how we did things, how we kept them organized, and made sure we were all on the same page. It’s important to take care of those things now before you grow and try to figure it out while you go.
  5. Thinking financially. A successful business comes down to math (sorry English majors). Does the amount of money that comes into the business exceed the amount of money being spent? Where is money being lost or wasted? This is crucial in your business. If you hate math, hire an accountant. This is the first hire I made because it’s that important. Learn how to budget and how to say no to things that aren’t moving your business forward.
  6. Resilience. Can you handle stress? Rejection? Slow progress? Burnout? Distractions? Things will happen in your personal and professional life that will be really, really hard. These things can make you stronger and help you to create a more successful business OR it can break your business.
  7. Communication. Communicating what you do and why it matters will get your business started. CLEAR communication will keep you going – with your team, customers, and everyone you’re interacting with in your business.
  8. Sales. If you have no sales, you have no business. This is the #1 skill you’ll need to make your business work. If you truly have something valuable to share with people, it shouldn’t come across as slimey.

All of these skills can be taught, but some skills that can only come with experience are:

  • Loving to serve people
  • Being trustworthy and honest
  • Being naturally curious about how things work
  • Having a drive to keep going when things are tough
  • Having a healthy dose of self-awareness
  • Humility

These are the characteristics I look for in people I hire and they’re the characteristics my team and I strive to achieve.

I hope looking through these skills helps you to develop yourself and your business.

Thanks for reading!

Keep changing lives,

Tim